Jailed: Man who had sex with girl, 13, in Calne

A man who had sex with a 13-year-old girl who had run away from home has been jailed for 13-and-a-half months.

Matthew Flay, 21, plied the child with cannabis after meeting her and a teenage friend in woods in Calne last summer.

Flay then got the two runaways to perform a sex before disappearing into the trees with the younger one.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court on Friday that the girls had run away from home after school in July last year.

After collecting some alcohol from the younger child's house they went to some playing fields in Calne and then to Castlefields Park. As they walked through they saw Flay sitting on a bridge and asked him for a cigarette, which he gave them.

They got talking he told them he was called Matty from Lacock and he then produced some cannabis which they all smoked.

"They clearly became very friendly, it appears the two girls were somewhat enamoured with the defendant," Mr Meeke said.

Flay tried to put his hands down their trousers and he and the two girls carried out a sex act on him.

The younger girl then produced two condoms and they then went into the trees where they had sex.

Mr Meeke said she found it painful and got up, put her clothes on and walked back to her friend.

Although the girls had been reported missing to the police they did not reveal what had happened for a few days.

When he was questioned the defendant at first denied everything they said, initially pleading not guilty, but had later admitted the matter.

Mr Meeke said the defendant was unable to explain how they knew he was from Lacock or how they could direct police to a condom wrapper with his fingerprints on.

Flay, who gave the court an address in Poole, Dorset, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual activity with a child.

Robin Shellard, defending, said the girls' victim impact statements spoke of the trouble the matter had caused them but pointed out they had issues before.

He said: "Clearly these were matters which Matthew Flay was unaware of when he met these two runaways that day.

"He should have known better but I hope that the pre-sentence report and the letter from his step mother are instructive as to the maturity of Matthew Flay."

Despite the difference in age he said his client was immature, and was only just 20 at the time of the offending, describing him as a 'young boy in a man's body'.

Judge Tim Mousley QC said: "I can't overlook the fact that you did ply them with cannabis shortly before these offences occurred.

"On any view you took great advantage of these two teenage girls and I have read everything that has been set out about the impact on them, though I do bear in mind the other difficulties they have had in their lives.

"I take the view these matters are so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence can be imposed."

He also made him subject to a sexual offences prevention order for ten years and told him to register as a sex offender.